Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 237: Our Top 10 Favorite Movies Of All Time | Ear Biscuits Ep.237

Episode Date: April 20, 2020

Escape from reality with a good movie… or an Ear Biscuits about movies that we think are good! Listen to R&L rank their top 10 favorite movies in this episode of Ear Biscuits! To learn more about ...listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:49 Other conditions apply. Welcome to Ear Biscuits. I'm Rhett. And I'm Link. This week at our individual tables of either dining or placed into your living room. Rhett, we are going to have another discussion because ear biscuits don't stop because we're in our homes. It's not that much different.
Starting point is 00:01:14 No it doesn't. Still working, still working. You think this is work? I don't even have pants on. This is a nice outlet. Today, you know what? Today's gonna be a positive outlet. Just like you can sit down and watch a movie
Starting point is 00:01:35 and you can escape from the reality of what's going on. And there's, I mean, there's some good news. There's a lot of bad news. There's a lot, there's still a lot of troubling news, there's things to be worried about, but you can escape into a book, you can escape into a show, you can escape into a movie, and right now, you can escape into an Ear Biscuits about movies.
Starting point is 00:01:58 Yeah, we're gonna do one of our top 10 favorites episodes. We're doing top 10 favorite movies for each one of us personally, going through our list. We've had fun with this before. What else did we do? We did TV shows. We did TV shows. We also did game shows, like specifically.
Starting point is 00:02:17 Of course, yeah. So, and the interesting thing about this is that- This is a tough one because this one's very broad. Well, I'll say a few things about it. It was incredibly difficult to make this list because as I've said many times about my lists of favorites is that I don't have like a favorite movie. I have like a collection of movies
Starting point is 00:02:37 and once I started trying to narrow it down to 10, I started feeling really bad about the ones that I was leaving off of the top 10. So I have a pretty long list of honorable mentions. I'm pretty sure you do as well. I have some honorable mentions. The thing that, it's not that I had difficulty narrowing it down as much as,
Starting point is 00:02:57 I actually had difficulty accessing some. I was like, oh, I remembered one that would be like high up on my list. And I'm like, I can't believe I almost forgot about this movie. It's been so long since I've seen it. But it's not just what we think are the best movies ever, but at least for me, I ranked the movies
Starting point is 00:03:15 that were most personally impactful. The movies that were most meaningful to me for a variety of reasons, which I think is kind of what we did with the television show thing as well. Yeah, it's more about, I mean, favorite doesn't necessarily mean best. Best. Right. Although, I would say the majority of the movies that ended up letting make the top
Starting point is 00:03:37 10 were the ones that, with few exceptions, I still think these are just incredible. Yeah, it's gotta be good. There's not a film on this list that's not an incredible film. Right. But it might not be that they're all 98% or above on Rotten Tomatoes. You know, that wasn't my criteria. But also the way that I kind of tried to access
Starting point is 00:03:56 the memories, which I have a horrible memory, unless I wrote something down, is I went to lists of movies, you know? And so there might be something that you accessed through your memory that wouldn't have made like top 100. Yeah. I went like top 100 all genres and like went through all of them
Starting point is 00:04:18 to kind of like re-access different movies. Yeah, I did some of that too. But there could be one that's not on there. Anyway. One of the things that I realized was I've fallen out of the some of that too. But there could be one that's not on there. Anyway. One of the things that I realized was I've fallen out of the habit of watching movies. There's been different eras of movie watching and I think it will become clear in my list
Starting point is 00:04:36 as to when these movies meant the most to me, like when I first watched them and what compels me to go back and watch them. But as television has evolved, I find myself watching more television than movies at home and not going to the theater or going to theater for a different reason or going with different people, like with younger people.
Starting point is 00:05:00 That type of thing has changed my movie going habits. But in this current situation, if there's ever been an opportunity to go back and rewatch movies or to introduce, you know, your partner or your kids to movies that were special to you, now's a great time to do that. Now we're just looking for opportunities to do things and movies, they take a good chunk of time.
Starting point is 00:05:25 So I guess you can just consider this an entire recommendation episode as we go through these. Do you wanna start? Let's get into it. Sure. Of course, we're starting with number 10 and working our way to number one. And again, of course, I don't know your list
Starting point is 00:05:42 and you don't know my list, so. Right. My number 10 favorite movie of all time is The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Really? The Good, and The Bad, and The Ugly? I mean, I own that movie on DVD, but I couldn't have even told you that you've watched it.
Starting point is 00:06:02 What, are you crazy? You didn't watch it with me. I've watched every Clint Eastwood movie multiple times. Oh, not just like A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More, but all Clint Eastwood movies. The Dollars trilogy, which incidentally, this movie is considered the third and final installment in that trilogy,
Starting point is 00:06:29 even though it was basically just marketed as that because it was a spaghetti Western. It was an Italian produced and directed movie. And the reason I love this, first of all, I wanted to have a Western in there because I love this, I wanted to have a, first of all, I wanted to have a Western in there because- Okay. I love the genre. Yeah. But this is the most,
Starting point is 00:06:49 I'm actually surprised that it's at least not on your honorable mentions because this is the most iconic film score of all time. That's true. In my mind. Yeah. So Ennio Morricone, he basically, this is that class, like so many things that you take for granted, both in film scores,
Starting point is 00:07:12 but also in filmmaking. Yeah. Like, yeah, you know this soundtrack, even if you don't know that you know this soundtrack. I was trying to do it with my hand. It sounds a little bit like what Link tried to do there. But it's like, wah, wah, wah.
Starting point is 00:07:27 Yeah, and there's whip sounds and stuff like that. All that stuff that you just, The soundtrack is great. Like maybe top two or three movie soundtracks of all times, definitely. But the movie itself, you gotta settle in because it's a different type of pacing. The first 10 and a half minutes, there is no dialogue.
Starting point is 00:07:47 10 and a half minutes of no dialogue. And the shots are incredible. Like there's all these shots of just eyeballs and there's shots incredibly wide. The cinematography is absolutely amazing. So I did a little research and learned that Clint Eastwood was so frustrated with making this movie that he never worked
Starting point is 00:08:07 with the director again because the director was so meticulous about, like, you see the final product and the way that all the, he worked the actors so hard to get all of these different shots that Clint Eastwood was like, I'm never working with this guy again. And people kind of looked down on the whole spaghetti western thing. That's Sergio Leone.
Starting point is 00:08:26 I can't remember his name, I looked it up. Just a super weird time in filmmaking history and that all of a sudden they started making a bunch of Westerns in Italy. And then like they were some, you know, like Spain was involved in some ways. And I don't know, I mean, also the whole thing is overdubbed.
Starting point is 00:08:42 So if you go back and watch this, you're gonna be like, what? Yeah, they ADR'd the entire movie and it's super obvious, but there's just something about all the elements that come together that just make it iconic for me. And the face, the three-way face-off scene at the end is pretty, pretty memorable, if you can last that long. I think anybody, I mean,
Starting point is 00:09:03 I understand that it's a certain taste, but for me, it's so iconic and it stands on its own and it influenced so much of filmmaking from that point on that it's just, I just, I love it. I did own it. I actually might enjoy watching like, you know, the outlaw Jesse Wells or something like that more as a movie.
Starting point is 00:09:27 And then I love some of the like Unforgiven and later like 90s. So no other Western made your list? Nope. Tombstone? No, Tombstone's not on the list. I thought Tombstone would be on your list. Okay.
Starting point is 00:09:44 My number 10 released in 2004. This is a movie that I'd forgotten about, but it popped up as I was doing some browsing, and I was like, I think this needs to go on my list. It barely made it, but here it is at number 10, Napoleon Dynamite. Ah, it's an honorable mention for me. Okay.
Starting point is 00:10:08 It got close to making it on the list, for sure. Napoleon Dynamite, Jared Hess movie, you know, he had made a short film, and then it, I think that's what was it, Slamdance, which was like the companion film festival to Sundance, and like, so I'm, I'm pretty sure I'm right about that.
Starting point is 00:10:29 Then they turned it into a full length movie and it was, it was based on his experiences and growing up in Idaho and like the llama that's in it is his, his mom's or his grandma's llama because she really had one. And last night didn't have anything to do, and I was like, Lillian and Lando and I were gonna watch something. I was like, let's watch a movie.
Starting point is 00:10:55 I think you'll like Napoleon Dynamite. It's number 10 on my list. I'd like for you to watch it. And of course, I hadn't watched it in a long time. It is so specifically strange, you know? Yeah. And also innovative for its time too. It's delightful.
Starting point is 00:11:14 So many people have tried to do that quirky thing, including Jared Hess himself has tried to recreate the magic that he sort of found in Napoleon Dynamite and that's been difficult for him to do. Well, Nacho Libre, I really love Nacho Libre. My whole family had watched that. We may have watched it twice over the years. Jack Black is hilarious. It's a really good movie.
Starting point is 00:11:38 So I would say, in Lily and Lando's opinion, it's a much better movie than Napoleon Dynamite because at like 10 or 13 minutes in, they were like, dad, is this the movie? They were like, is something gonna happen? Cause it's just these strange characters just being themselves and there's not a lot that's really happening.
Starting point is 00:12:07 I mean, they couldn't keep watching it. I had to turn it off. And we hadn't gotten to any sort of question or conflict. You're kidding. Yeah, they weren't into it. And they love Nacho Libre. My kids have watched, first of all, my kids end up watching a lot of movies without me,
Starting point is 00:12:23 like, especially a lot. Like, I'll be like, hey, have you seen so-and-so classic movies? Oh yeah. He just watches a bunch of stuff on his own. So Napoleon Dynamite, kids have watched that. And they liked it. I'm a fan of Jared Hess. As I was.
Starting point is 00:12:37 Don Verdeen, biblical archeologist. Well, I think the thing we like about Jared Hess is that he, if we were to make movies, we've always thought, especially because at that time, like 2004, when that one came out, we were trying to figure out what is this career gonna look like and where is this eventually gonna go?
Starting point is 00:12:58 And I think we always assumed that it would end at making movies. And maybe it will, Link, maybe it will one day. Right. But we had this vision that, oh, the way that he's kind of drawing on the weird, quirky stuff from his life and his childhood and the way that he puts that on screen
Starting point is 00:13:14 in very specific ways is just how we imagined that we would always make comedy. It was a different type of comedy. That's why it had to be on my list, I felt like, because it was so inspiring for me and for both of us because it was a specific strain of comedy that we had never experienced, that every choice was a comedic choice,
Starting point is 00:13:35 and it came together in a way that was like, it was so odd that it became cool in spite of itself. Even the music cues and like the composition, everything was just delightfully strange. And I think it gave us confidence that those instincts, comedic instincts that we had that were kind of kindred to his was something that people could dig. And it gave us more confidence to explore our comedic voice.
Starting point is 00:14:11 So that's why I had to make the list for me. What was the last thing that filled you with wonder that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic? Well, for us, and I'm gonna guess for some of you, that thing is... Anubhay! Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray. And I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is... Anime! Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray.
Starting point is 00:14:26 And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests. And hot takes galore. So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. Okay, back to the list. We're to your number nine, if you've lost track already.
Starting point is 00:14:49 Number nine, what I consider to be the perfect movie. Perfect movie and it's only number nine? The Godfather. Okay, okay. I thought that one of these would make your list. I mean, people say Godfather Part Okay, okay. I thought that one of these would make your list. I mean, people say Godfather Part II is better. Well, again, there's another trilogy, as you might imagine, on my list.
Starting point is 00:15:17 There's probably at least one on your list. And I just picked the first one from, I'm just picking the first movie from the trilogy. And Godfather II is incredible. Godfather III is, everybody sort of agrees is not as good, but I love a gangster movie. Absolutely, and so obviously, the Godfather was Francis Ford Coppola,
Starting point is 00:15:38 and then Scorsese kind of came in and has taken over the mantle of making the perfect gangster movie. Goodfellas, speaking of Scorsese, was almost took this spot on the list because Goodfellas is funnier than The Godfather. And I also think it's a perfect movie, by the way. And it's sort of the modern gangster movie,
Starting point is 00:16:02 but a lot of the same characters, it's just you have the addition of Joe Pesci. Were they playing the same characters? They're not playing the same characters. No, no, no, no, no. But I'm just saying this. They're the same actors. Yeah, yeah, yeah, De Niro. So I love the epic sort of like sweeping,
Starting point is 00:16:24 multi-generational nature of a really good gangster movie. And again, that's what they did in the Irishman where they kind of took him through his life. And I just sit there and I just kind of just completely, I become engrossed with this. And I remember the first time I watched The Godfather, which I don't even remember how old I was, but I was a teenager.
Starting point is 00:16:44 And I very rarely have gotten lost in something and just been like, cause a lot of people are like, man, there's movies are so long, like a Scorsese movie and the Godfather. I don't know how long the first one is. They're all long, but like, it doesn't matter. I could just take it.
Starting point is 00:17:00 I could watch it. I could watch like a 12 hour version of it because everything about it is perfect. The writing, the acting, the score, the cinematography. I just don't think there's any misses at all. Although I was surprised to learn that Marlon Brando, two things about him, he actually put cotton balls in his cheeks when he did his audition for the role.
Starting point is 00:17:23 Uh-huh. Because he wanted his face to kind of look like a bulldog, more so than it already did. And then for the movie, they had a dentist make like a prosthetic that goes in his mouth that like pushes his cheeks out and that way he talked. Oh.
Starting point is 00:17:39 But he also, he's such a weird dude. He didn't memorize any of his lines for the movie. He read them off cue cards. Seriously? And so to learn that the lead actor in one of the best movies of all time wasn't really even acting in the traditional sense. Wow.
Starting point is 00:17:59 Was a little surprising, but. So you're saying that a gangster, well, okay, you don't have to, a gangster movie didn't make your top 10. No gangster movie. And I think a lot of people may be thinking, Link, you've got a reputation of being the guy who hasn't seen the movies.
Starting point is 00:18:18 And you know what, that's true, especially like all of the movies that everybody's seen from the 80s, you know, which is why we made that Viewmaster thing for the Mythical Society that put me in these movies I've never seen, like Ferris Bueller's Day Off. But yeah, I've seen The Godfather,
Starting point is 00:18:37 I've seen The Godfather Part II, but there was a stint in college where I realized I needed to go back and watch these movies because in my house growing up, we just didn't watch, we didn't rent that many movies or watch that many movies. In your house, I just think that was a big thing, right? And not that you all watched them together,
Starting point is 00:18:58 but you would also watch the movies on your own, but you rent those VHSs of the Godfather and watch that. So in college, I watched those, I watched, you know, Space Odyssey 2001, you know, I watched all the things that like the- Oh, hold on, so 2001 didn't make your top 10? No. That was an honorable mention for me.
Starting point is 00:19:19 I was sure that that movie would make your top 10. I had that kick where I took an intro to film class my sophomore year, and I really felt convicted to go back and watch the greatest movies of all time. And we would watch a lot of them together. And there was a really cool video store there where a lot of them you could rent for a dollar. Remember that?
Starting point is 00:19:45 So I watched them all so closely together that they didn't have a lasting personal impact. There are some from that time in my life, but it says a lot more about me than it does about the movie. So no, no gangster movies in my list. Okay, what is your number nine? My number nine is from 2014.
Starting point is 00:20:13 I was making my list and I realized I didn't have a Marvel movie on my list. And I feel like that if I'm gonna see a movie now, like without exception, I go to the theater to see a Marvel movie because my entire family's into it. It's a way that we connect, that we got a lot of really great memories
Starting point is 00:20:34 around watching movies. We watched Infinity War and when it was over, we had reservations for dinner and Lily was in tears and I was like emotionally ripped apart and we didn't even go. We didn't even eat dinner. We just went home, you know? So I felt like I had,
Starting point is 00:20:54 Marvel had to be represented on my list somewhere. So at number nine, the only Marvel movie on my list, Guardians of the Galaxy. That's my only Marvel movie on my list, Guardians of the Galaxy. That's my favorite Marvel movie. I mean, Infinity War, the first Avengers, like there's a lot of ones that are special, but Guardians is just my favorite. It's just, it's the funniest.
Starting point is 00:21:21 It was so surprising because I wasn't, I'm not a comic book guy, so I wasn't really familiar with the characters. So my expectations were low, but then they were blown out of the water and it just continues to deliver with every sequel. I can't wait for the next one. Yeah, so Guardians of the Galaxy was on my original,
Starting point is 00:21:45 just like my long list. I kind of, so I guess you could technically say So, Guardians of the Galaxy was on my original, just like my long list. I kind of, so I guess you could technically say it's on my honorable mentions, but it didn't really have, I knew it wasn't gonna make it into the top 10. Yeah. But it is, for me, as a guy who doesn't really like comic book movies, it is easily the best franchise,
Starting point is 00:22:05 Marvel franchise for me. And I think that's why it's on my list, comic book movies, it is easily the best franchise, Marvel franchise for me. And I think that's why it's on my list for the reasons it's almost on your list, plus all the reasons I love Marvel. One of the things that happens in Marvel movies that is frustrating to me is just, I'm just not, the whole action thing is not super appealing to me,
Starting point is 00:22:23 and like following a bunch of different, like I like the Avengers and they're incredibly well done, but like just things get too complicated. It's not like it's difficult to follow what's happening in the Avengers. I'm not saying that. It's not like Memento or something, but it's. There's emotional investment in the entire universe.
Starting point is 00:22:42 It gets a little too complicated and too complex for me to find out what I'm supposed to attach to, but for Guardians of the Galaxy, I attach, there's an emotional connection. Soundtrack, we play the soundtrack. By far the most played movie soundtrack in our house is Guardians of the Galaxy. It's going all the time.
Starting point is 00:23:04 Because what Chris Pratt listens to in the movie, it's incredible and it's super funny. So yeah, I definitely thought about it, but I just couldn't give it a top 10 spot. All right, so where you at? Number eight, I'm positive this is not on your list, unless you got something that you've never told me. The Wizard of Oz.
Starting point is 00:23:30 Wow. Really? Okay. Yeah, oh yeah. Easily. Okay. Easily. And this for me is,
Starting point is 00:23:41 if you're a 42 year old person or somewhere along those lines, you remember the Wizard of Oz coming on every single year on television. And for me, it was this incredibly special time, like getting by myself and watching the Wizard of Oz was this almost spiritual experience. There's something absolutely magical about that story.
Starting point is 00:24:05 I mean, it is recognized as one of the best movies of all time on most people's list, but that's not why I chose it. That's why I remembered it. But I was like, oh yeah, Wizard of Oz. Like I would, there's something about, it's such an early time in sort of cinematic history, they were able to bring this fantasy world to life.
Starting point is 00:24:26 And when you watch it, you can kind of see like, oh, I can kind of tell that they're just in sort of a big room and that castle is painted on a wall. But you can still tell that it was flooring for anyone the first time they saw it. And even as a kid, I can access that memory of the first time I saw it and still being transported there. Yeah, well, one of my favorite things that,
Starting point is 00:24:50 one of my favorite genres of literature and one of my favorite genres of movie is our fantasy movies where there's a connection to the real world, right? So even though I don't like, you know, the Chronicles of Narnia is not on my list because I didn't really like the movies. I loved the books as a kid.
Starting point is 00:25:10 Yeah. And the reason that the Chronicles of Narnia connected with me so much is because it actually established a connection between the real world and England with this fantasy world, as opposed to like Game of Thrones, which is just a fantasy,
Starting point is 00:25:23 it's a world building fantasy thing, which is awesome. But the idea that you can actually find a thin place somewhere in the world and actually move into the fantasy world has been something that has been fascinating for me since I was a kid. And I remember like walking in the woods and like looking in trees and I was like, is this it? Is this how you get to the fantasy place?
Starting point is 00:25:44 And even though I know that she was technically just in a dream, which is unfortunate that that's how it ends, spoiler alert, just the idea that this girl from Kansas, the real world with her little dog goes into this absolutely magical place that was represented in this incredible way. It's just, it's definitely,
Starting point is 00:26:08 I almost put it higher on the list because it looms so large in my childhood. I gotta say, now I do feel a little guilty for not putting it on my list because I remember that feeling of realizing it was coming on television again when I was a kid and being so excited. it was gripping. And it wasn't the type of thing that you,
Starting point is 00:26:29 you only watched half of it. Once you were in it, you were in it. You were like, oh, this is a good part. This is a good part. And for it to hold up that well is absolutely amazing. It's iconic, yeah. Okay, so my number eight is a Wes Anderson movie. Now, if I were to rank my favorite filmmakers,
Starting point is 00:26:49 I think Wes Anderson may be my favorite filmmaker. He may take my number one spot. So it kind of, this was difficult for me that I had to narrow, I ended up- Can I guess which one you chose? I had to put one on my list and I didn't put one higher than this. Yeah, you can guess.
Starting point is 00:27:11 Okay, well, before I guess, let me just say that I knew that a Wes Anderson film would be on your list. And a Wes Anderson film almost made it on my list because I don't like Wes Anderson as much as you do, but he's definitely in my top five favorite filmmakers. However, none of his movies made the list for me. And the movie that I would,
Starting point is 00:27:32 and was almost on my list at number 10, and almost knocked off the good, bad, the ugly, is one I'm sure is not on your list. I bet you'd say Fantastic Mr. Fox. No, I would say Rushmore. Rushmore is great. And I was almost gonna put that on for the kids last night, and then I realized it's rated R,
Starting point is 00:27:48 and I didn't want Landon to watch it. So I think you chose, I think you chose. I didn't choose Rushmore, but I thought about it. You either chose, I know you either chose the Royal Tenenbaums or the Life Aquatic, and I think you chose the Life Aquatic. You are right. I saw, I wish I would have seen the Life Aquatic in theaters, I don't know why I didn't do that.
Starting point is 00:28:13 It came out in 2004. Rushmore came out in 1998. Tenenbaums came out closer to the Life Aquatic. I think Tenenbaonds was the first movie that I watched of Wes Anderson. Then I went back and watched the previous ones. It's a great movie, great acting. And it's so striking,
Starting point is 00:28:38 the visual voice that he has. And it really resonates with me. I mean, it's not not not just the the meticulous control that he applies to every single thing just seeing his process when watching the movie i delight in that and i think that's something it just makes me feel you know it's like it's like a well-oiled machine or a well-cleaned room, you know? It resonates with me to see everything
Starting point is 00:29:11 so perfectly symmetrical. And then the way that the comedy doesn't, the first time you watch it, you're like, is that, I find that funny, but is that supposed to be funny? And of course, once you understand his voice, you know it is. Yeah, well, that's why he's one of my favorite filmmakers.
Starting point is 00:29:31 I mean, obviously the aesthetic stuff that you're talking about, but for me, it is the effortless comedy and also his casting is better than anybody in terms of comedic casting. Knowing who's going to be funny without trying. Gene Hackman was amazing in that. He's a master at that.
Starting point is 00:29:51 The reason why I chose Life Aquatic, even though some people will rank it really low on their Wes Anderson list, it was more whimsical, it didn't have, in a lot of Wes Anderson's movies, there's an underpinning of sadness. And there's a lot of comedy that comes from that. I wouldn't call it dark comedy, but it's like sad comedy.
Starting point is 00:30:20 The Life Aquatic was kind of a refrain from that. It was more whimsical. It was, I mean, Bill Murray's character was tapped into so much of what you get with Bill Murray that he was very morose as a character. But I never felt sorry for him. I always felt, I just thought it was hilarious. And exploring that world, you know,
Starting point is 00:30:48 with the cutaways of the ship and everything, it was just more fun throughout than Tenenbaum. So if I was gonna sit down and rewatch it, I found myself going back to that one more often for those reasons. Yeah, I think the reason it didn't make my list is because I appreciate all those things about Wes Anderson,
Starting point is 00:31:09 and I find it's incredibly enjoyable to watch his movies. And like everything about it, there's something you can keep finding that you are enjoying. But the one thing that it doesn't do for me is I don't get emotionally invested in his characters in the same way. However, the character I got most invested in is, you know,
Starting point is 00:31:29 Schwartzman and Rushmore, interestingly. And so I think that that's why it was my favorite. But yeah, it's just more like, it's almost just like a filmmaking, it's just an experience in watching great filmmaking. It's like going to an amusement park. It's like going- I never forget that I'm watching a movie though.
Starting point is 00:31:52 I think that's the thing is I never forget that I'm watching a movie. It draws attention to itself. That might sound strange, yeah. Yeah. Give me your number seven. Okay, my number seven. Again, I wonder when we're gonna get some crossover
Starting point is 00:32:07 because I don't think we're there yet. Number seven for me is The Princess Bride. Again, this is a lot of people's favorite movie. And again, it was one of those that the first time I watched I was just like, if this is what movies are, I wanna make movies, you know? It's got that adventure quality, but The Princess Bride for me is just the peak
Starting point is 00:32:34 of sort of fantasy comedy. Doesn't go all the way into like a Monty Python place that is just completely unhinged. Gets pretty close in a couple of places. But again, there's just something about the tone. First of all, I'm a huge Rob Reiner fan and he's done so many different things. And then once I read, which I've recommended this book
Starting point is 00:32:54 before I recommend it again, but the As You Wish book. Yeah. The audio book's great too. Yeah, audio book's got a bunch of the cast talking and it's got freaking Andre the Giant in it. But again, I just love the way it came together. I love, there's so many epic moments in it. And again, I just get lost in it.
Starting point is 00:33:18 I love The Princess Bride. I wish I would have seen it as a kid. I don't know, I was deprived. You know, I saw it, I don't think I seen it as a kid. I don't know. I was deprived. You know, I saw it. I don't think I saw it until after college. And it's just a different thing. And like, I could see the everything you're saying, but I couldn't fully experience it
Starting point is 00:33:37 because it doesn't quite hold up if you're not accessing the first time you saw it when you're younger, I think. Yeah, well, did you know that the actor that they originally wanted to play the giant was not Andre the Giant, Fezzik is the giant's name. It was Arnold Schwarzenegger. Oh, wow.
Starting point is 00:34:02 Was the first choice. Just not cute enough. Like Andre the Giant had this cuteness that made it work. Well he also had this giantness that Schwarzenegger actually doesn't have. He's ripped but he's not an actual giant. Which is on my list. But yeah, because the whole,
Starting point is 00:34:24 again, you gotta read the book because, well, not the book that is based on the, you know, The Princess Bride by William Gold, or Goldman, Gold or Goldman. Anyway, I've never read the book, but people said it was one of those things like, oh, you can't adapt this book. And they had tried many different times.
Starting point is 00:34:43 Kind of like, did you, I didn't even realize until recently, their Dune, another book and they had tried many different times. Kind of like, I didn't even realize until recently their Dune, another book that they said could never be adapted is being made into a film right now. I've heard that, but it's still suspicious. But anyway, it took 12 years, 12 years had passed between the time that they were talking about Arnold being Fezzik
Starting point is 00:35:04 to when it actually happened because it took so long to get the film going. And by that time, Schwarzenegger was just a massive start. It would have been incredibly odd and weird for him to just play the giant. And so they got a pro wrestler to do it, who ended up being, it's one of my favorite parts in any movie ever.
Starting point is 00:35:19 My number seven movie is the first movie I ever remember seeing in the theater. I don't know if it actually was, but it probably was. This was 1984. So I was six, if I saw it late in the theater, maybe depending on when it landed, I could have been seven. My dad took me to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. And in a recent episode,
Starting point is 00:35:49 well maybe months back, I did talk about how we watched all of the Indiana Jones movies with the kids, so I introduced them to them, and they were enthralled as well. Now, you could make the argument that Raiders of the Lost Ark is a better movie. I would make that argument.
Starting point is 00:36:09 And Raiders of the Lost Ark is on my honorable mentions. But they both hold up. Oh, they're great. Temple of Doom is a lot darker. Temple of Doom is not as funny, but it holds a special place because I don't know why my dad took me to see this movie. It was rated PG and then because of the public reaction
Starting point is 00:36:36 to the darkness of Gremlins and Temple of Doom, Spielberg lobbied that they come up with a new rating which became PG-13, and they changed the rating of Temple of Doom to PG-13, one of the first movies that got that rating. So I just remember seeing the heart come out of that guy's chest and covering my eyes in the theater and being absolutely horrified, and it was amazing.
Starting point is 00:37:02 Watching the movie back, I couldn't believe how endlessly entertaining it was amazing. Watching the movie back, I couldn't believe how endlessly entertaining it was. One scene to the next, you're just thrown as he's, he tumbles from one thing to the next and it's absolutely endless, it seems. Like you think it can't get better than this, the action can't get more exciting than this, and then it happens.
Starting point is 00:37:26 And it's, I mean, there are some problems. You know, the cultural portrayals of, you know, and then there's the white savior thing. I'm not saying it doesn't have its problems, and I'm not defending those. But it holds a special place in my heart because it scared the crap out of me as a child. And my kids loved it when they watched it,
Starting point is 00:37:53 it scared the crap out of Lando and he loved it a few weeks ago. Yeah, well, I definitely feel like, like I said, Raiders of the Lost Ark was very close to making my top 10. I kind of felt like I had to, I wanted to put a Spielberg movie in my top 10 because that's how I ended up kind of approaching this list in a lot of ways.
Starting point is 00:38:13 It was like, I started realizing that the filmmakers that I liked their body of work the most. And I was like, okay, I'm gonna give you one film, but I just, I couldn't do it as much as I absolutely love the Indiana Jones franchise. And it does loom very large in my childhood. And you got like the dinner scene where they're like eating the bugs and the monkey brains.
Starting point is 00:38:35 Oh, there's so many iconic scenes. That's GMM right there, man. It's like, the thing that I was horrified by as a child is something that became a cornerstone of my career path. I've got a connection to this movie, man. Okay, my number six is by far my most recent movie. Okay. I don't have my years in here, I should have done that,
Starting point is 00:39:02 but this is just from a couple years ago, a few years ago. Get Out. Yeah, I assume Get Out was an honorable mention of mine. Like I knew you had to hit horror, and I knew even independent from that, you had to hit Get Out because it's so pivotal culturally. Yeah, you would assume there'd be more horror on my, I like horror movies a lot, but,
Starting point is 00:39:27 and I enjoy watching them probably more than any movie because I just enjoy the idea of getting scared, especially in a group of people. And now Locke and I, every single Saturday night is horror movie night and the two of us just go down into the garage where we've got a television and no one else will get scared because no one else can hear what's happening.
Starting point is 00:39:45 But we've watched a bunch of ridiculous horror movies. But anyway. Did you think about us? Or is it clearly Get Out over us? Get Out's better than us. Yeah, I mean, there's so many things. I love everything about both movies. But Get Out was one of the most enjoyable
Starting point is 00:40:06 movie going experiences I've ever had. Like the first time I saw it in the theater. I was feeling so many things all at once when I was watching it. The first thing I was feeling was this is super scary and it's like getting me, but this is super funny and like a really funny, I'm laughing as much as I am kind of cringing in fear.
Starting point is 00:40:35 And then the whole time I'm thinking, Jordan Peele made this, you know, it's just like, Jordan Peele of Key and Peele comedy duo, this guy has gone and created this perfect movie. There was like a combination of fat, there was a fascination, but also like an incredible jealousy at the same time to just think,
Starting point is 00:40:57 dude, this guy went off and did this thing that man, I mean like this is an incredible accomplishment for anyone, but this dude that was just over here doing sketch comedy had this up his sleeve the whole time. This is crazy. But yeah, I mean, it's one of my favorite movies. Obviously it's number six on my list, but I think it also sort of represented
Starting point is 00:41:21 the cultural resurrection of horror, bringing horror back into the mainstream in a really big way. A lot of people have seen a lot more horror movies and horror movies are grossing a lot more money at the box office because of Get Out and what it kind of did for people getting like, oh, I get it, it's kind of like riding a roller coaster, as opposed to it just being a bunch of horror fiends
Starting point is 00:41:52 going in and watching people get slaughtered in a movie theater. My number six is my favorite, well, I don't know, if you ask me what my favorite, well, I don't know. If you ask me what my favorite comedy is, it's weird because I have comedies higher than this one, but I think of this as more of my like, if I'm gonna go with like my,
Starting point is 00:42:16 the strictest version of comedy that I'm gonna apply to something and then make that list, I think this is my number one. My favorite is straight up comedy. Released in 1998, The Big Lebowski. Wow. You thought this would be higher. Is your number six?
Starting point is 00:42:35 That's my number six. Yep. You thought it would be higher. Well, it's higher on my list than it's on your list. Okay. So you thought that I liked the movie more than you? I thought that it would've, I thought that it might be your number one, honestly.
Starting point is 00:42:52 Yeah, at certain points in my life it would be, but there's other movies that just, they resonate, they have more meaning, they touch my life in a lot more areas. This just kinda touches my funny bone and my comedic sensibility. I really regret not seeing the Big Lebowski in theaters. I think that was my introduction to the Coen brothers.
Starting point is 00:43:18 This was, again, I was taking this intro to film class, sophomore year in college. I was able this intro to film class, sophomore year in college. I was able to rent it because they were talking about it in class. And I was like, how have I not heard about this movie? It's absolutely hilarious. It's also very profane and that's really edgy. It was, I wrote, I had to write a paper about mise-en-scene,
Starting point is 00:43:49 which is basically arranging scenery and props. And so I wrote a whole paper. I'm horrible at writing papers, but I had to watch the movie again and again and again in order to piece together this paper. So I got really acquainted with it, but it never got old. The performances from Jeff Bridges and John Goodman are just, I feel like they're perfect.
Starting point is 00:44:16 And then the ways that they interact and, you know, it was the first thing that I really started to notice because I don't watch a whole, I don't watch a lot of movies again and again and again. That's just not me. But in such a short span of time to do that and still enjoy it and start to appreciate the nuances of acting, I think for the first time,
Starting point is 00:44:40 was another touch point for this movie. But it was just, it was just so funny and still is so funny. Yeah, I gotta say, it's my number two. Wow. Yeah. When's the last time you watched it? It's been years. It's been years and I was talking to Locke
Starting point is 00:45:00 about how we should watch it together. But I know that one of the things that people discover when they watch it, and again, Coen Brothers are some of my favorite filmmakers of all time, I wanted them to have a spot and this is my favorite Coen Brothers movie. The reason that it's, well, a lot of people talk about the fact that nothing happens and I was actually reading an interview with Joelel cohen who says yeah the plot is sort of secondary to the other things
Starting point is 00:45:29 that are sort of going on in the piece i think that if people get a little confused it's not necessarily going to get in the way of them enjoying the movie so in this interview goes on to talk about how like the plot is like the fourth or fifth thing. Because there's an aesthetic quality to it, there's the characters, the dialogue is incredible. The situations, I mean, like the baseball bat to the car with the homework under the seat, you know, it's. Well, and I think that it, yeah, I struggle between,
Starting point is 00:46:03 like my list is a combination of movies that do something to me personally as a, just a movie watcher, you know, as an audience member. And then there are movies that do something for me as an audience member and an aspiring artist. And so, again, when I watch something that the Coen brothers make, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they're a duo, you know, a duo that's known each other forever as being brothers. And so I think that when we look at them, we think a lot about our careers. And, you know, we both read the book about their sort of creative process years ago. And there's just something aspirational, there's something inspirational and aspirational about them and their career. And I feel like this is like the pinnacle of where everything came together in one movie for them. And so, again, it's the kind of thing that,
Starting point is 00:46:55 and we always reference this. We talk when we're developing characters for ourselves and some of the narrative stuff that we've done, we think about the dynamic. We use those three characters as points of reference in a lot of the stuff that we create. Like, are you getting to Goodman here? How Bridges are you?
Starting point is 00:47:17 Or how Buscemi are you as your character? I think that there's just something about that trio of characters, the dynamic's incredible. Yeah, my number two, and I thought it was gonna be your number one. Number six, wow, okay, I'm very, I'm very interested to see where your list goes from here. Okay, okay.
Starting point is 00:47:38 My number five is, again, I think it's a perfect movie, Back to the Future. Back to the Future. Back to the Future. Love everything about this movie. Yeah, a lot of people say it's the perfect movie. You know, it's not the one where he goes to the future. That's a bummer.
Starting point is 00:48:03 No. Well, it's interesting because when I watched it, I thought to myself, I was like, man, this movie has everything that I want in a movie. You know, it's got this sort of reality bending nature that if you're gonna make a movie, you might as well do something mythical. You know, I always say that
Starting point is 00:48:24 something magical should happen. So you got that sci-fi element. It's incredibly funny. And of course, all the choices that he makes are, I just think it's incredible the way that it progresses. But there's a lot of people who point out the fact that Marty McFly really doesn't grow or change, which is a really unusual thing,
Starting point is 00:48:46 which normally happened in a movie, is that it doesn't seem that he really learns anything. There's no like epiphany for him really. But yeah, I just, I watched this fairly recently, like in the past five years and it was when it hit me, I was like, man, I never, like I loved this movie growing up like in the past five years, and it was when it hit me, I was like, man, I never, like I loved this movie growing up, but I just kind of,
Starting point is 00:49:08 I lumped it together with a lot of other movies in that, you know, you got all the Spielberg stuff and then Zemeckis of course did this one, but it's a very Spielberg-y type. A lot of people just think that Spielberg made it. I do think he was a producer on it, but Zemeckis and then Robert Gale wrote it together, which this is a really interesting thing.
Starting point is 00:49:33 I was reading about this. In a 2015 interview, Zemeckis maintained, so he and Zemeckis and Gale own the rights to distribution of the film and the rights for all sequels. And they say that both of them have agreed that no reboots will be made as long as they are alive. Huh.
Starting point is 00:49:55 So don't expect, it's one of those things, and I love that because you know they would screw it up. It's one of those things that they would, there's movie studios that are chomping at the bit to remake this movie, knowing that it would do really well at the box office, but you just can't improve upon the original. This is just one of those cases, usually can't,
Starting point is 00:50:13 but this is just one of those cases that there's just something sacred about it. Yeah. It's the ultimate time travel movie. And it's the ultimate miss on my part. You know, I think that movie, the fact that I didn't see that until college in its completion, maybe after college again,
Starting point is 00:50:32 is just, I know that's mind blowing. And it's just, you know. You were deprived. A childhood cut short or something. I don't know. Okay, so now we're at my number five. Okay, so this is where I've placed the Star Wars trilogy and I have made a choice of which one. But yeah, here we are at number five
Starting point is 00:51:00 with The Empire Strikes Back. I mean, you can't argue, I don't think you can argue with that being the one that you would choose if you had to choose only one to watch or to rank as your number one of, you know, all nine of those. But I did actually, I'm just gonna be honest, I did think a little bit about The Force Awakens
Starting point is 00:51:23 because for me personally, it was, you personally, it was an opportunity to see it. I don't remember seeing, I think I can almost, I don't remember seeing Return of the Jedi in the theater. So it was the Force Awakens in that theater experience after having waited so long and then it being a shared experience with my kids and now Lily is my whole family but most for the most of all Lily is so into Star Wars to create that experience and have that with her is why The Force Awakens and it's just such a nostalgic movie because it's you know you could argue this is a remake
Starting point is 00:52:09 of A New Hope, but I love that one, but I'm still putting The Empire Strikes Back. I wish I could have experienced that, no, I am your father moment, you know, for the first time. It actually experienced it. That would have been amazing. But you know, everybody, by the time we watched it, we knew. I don't remember not knowing before I watched it.
Starting point is 00:52:33 I know I saw, I don't think I saw any of the first in the theater because I mean, that was 77, 80 and 83, right? I think so. So. Right. Yeah, I ended up watching all those on VHS. And I've never been, I love, I'm a fan of Star Wars and I like the most recent.
Starting point is 00:53:01 I mean, I really enjoy all the most recent ones. But yeah, it didn't even get, it just didn't make my honorable mention I really enjoy all the most recent ones. But yeah, it didn't even get, they just didn't make my honorable mention because another trilogy did, which I assume that another trilogy also made your list, which I enjoy more, which we've talked about, but. You don't have to, listen, you don't have to apologize for not putting Star Wars on your list.
Starting point is 00:53:21 No, no, no, I'm not apologizing. You just have to endure the wrath of all the Star Wars fans. I think it's, the apologize for not putting Star Wars on your list. No, no, no. You just have to endure the wrath of all the Star Wars fans. I think it's, the thing I respect about Star Wars is what it, is the mythology and sort of the philosophy that goes into it and how it translates into so relatable and so you can use it in so many illustrations. But the actual just sitting there and watching the movie,
Starting point is 00:53:46 especially the originals, it just doesn't get me, it doesn't get me enough to get into my favorite movies. But you know what does? Another movie that you're not gonna be surprised it's on my list and I would bet anything that is not on your list. Number four, Braveheart. Braveheart was an honorable mention for me.
Starting point is 00:54:06 I remember we were both really into that in college. I remember you being really into the soundtrack. Like you owned the CD. I had the soundtrack and played it in my room. Now, I don't know if it was something about the fact that I felt this like connection with William Wallace, because I always thought I was Scottish, even though I'm more Irish.
Starting point is 00:54:27 But there's something, it's one of those movies where I get so, again, nothing about the movie appeals to me from the aspirational filmmaker side. It's one of those movies that I'm just completely an audience member and I get completely lost in the story and every single thing about it, you feel like your heart is just like beating bigger and bigger throughout the movie
Starting point is 00:54:56 and then the ending of that movie. Oh gosh. The ending of that movie is just like, it's like the first time I remember like almost like weeping to the point of like shoulder convulsions in a movie theater. And it just something about the way it emotionally connected with me at that time in my life is, and I was just talking to the boys, we haven't watched it.
Starting point is 00:55:18 Yeah, it's very intense. Yeah, and it's, you know what, it's also very funny. There's funny moments that really care about those characters. And it's just sort of a, it's a huge milestone kind of accomplishment in filmmaking and just like an epic, the scale of it and the intensity.
Starting point is 00:55:47 I think it's one of the first movies where there was, they just made the decision to be like, hey, when we show people fighting, like it's gonna be real. Like there's gonna be like swords going into people. Thousands of people died because swords really went into people. Well, interestingly, one of the things I was looking at,
Starting point is 00:56:07 it talked about how they had to reshoot a couple of the epic battle scenes because a few of the guys had on wristwatches and sunglasses and they would like see it. And it not only seems like a myth because they could just go in and rotoscope it out. Those people deserve to be flogged. I mean, at that point in front of everybody.
Starting point is 00:56:25 Yeah, yeah, yeah. You will be killed. Pull their kilts up and just give them a nice fanny flogging, butt flogging. Which brings me to my number four. Again, Braveheart was an honorable mention, but I had to put Apocalypto at number four.
Starting point is 00:56:47 What an amazing Mel Gibson movie. Just kidding. You're joking. Yeah, you remember that movie? As I say, whoa. I remember Mel Gibson. Yeah, it was good. It was decent.
Starting point is 00:56:57 It was very violent. I mean, Braveheart is very violent. But anyway, that's not my number four. My number four, I know I'm gonna surprise you here. I'm throwing another Coen Brothers movie up there and now you know what it is. "'Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" went higher two spots than the big Lebowski for me,
Starting point is 00:57:18 released in 2000. I was a big Coen Brothers fan by this point, so I was determined I was gonna see their next movie in theaters. And I remember just feeling, it was weird. I just had this connection to this movie the first time I saw it. And I really think it had to do with the type of comedy,
Starting point is 00:57:42 it was like that old timey comedy and like the Southern humor and just the use of music. I really felt like it was a movie that we would have made. I don't know, it was something- I actually, I feel this was a complete miss on my part now that I'm thinking about it. Like, I don't know why that, in all the lists that I looked up to jog my memory, Oh Brother didn't come up. Well, it didn't win a lot of awards.
Starting point is 00:58:18 George Clooney won a Golden Globe for Best Comedy Actor. And I do think it won best comedy or musical. And it won the Grammy Album of the Year. It won the freaking, the soundtrack won Album of the Year because it was- The soundtrack was incredible. Amazingly curated by T-Bone Burnett. Every song, every song was great.
Starting point is 00:58:42 So yeah, the Southern comedy, the way that the history and the way that music was such a part, like at that point in my life, like, I mean, music's so important to me and there's been different points when I thought I could be a music historian, not because I know a lot of stuff,
Starting point is 00:59:06 but because I could see myself investing what it took to be that type of person. And I felt like that's, it was kind of like watching, there was a documentary element to it. I felt like I was watching a Ken Burns documentary on country music in some aspects. And it, so it resonated with me on, on all those levels and, and then the comedy of it and the characters. And it was just, um, and it was fun, you know, it wasn't too heavy. So it, yeah, like I said,
Starting point is 00:59:41 I love it. And I, I don't And I don't know where I would put it, but it didn't even come into my mind in putting my list together. And now I started to think, I think it would have made my top 10 had I realized it. For all the reasons that you just explained. I demand a written apology to Ethan and Joel Cohen. Well, I put the Big Lebowski at number two, so.
Starting point is 01:00:05 Yeah, that's true. We're gonna have some crossover in the top three. We have to, I think. My number three, I had to pick one. I picked the first one, The Fellowship of the Ring, of Lord of the Rings. Having recently watched the trilogy again, I thought that The Return of the King was my favorite,
Starting point is 01:00:26 but in rewatching it, they're actually in reverse order now. Number one is the best, number two is the second best, and number three is the third best. They're all incredible. In rewatching it, I was, as we discussed a few weeks ago, just fully engrossed. We're still going through all of the DVD extras, which there's like reams of that.
Starting point is 01:00:47 And like the kids are into that, like I said. In this particular rewatching, the Two Towers was my favorite. Hold on, what number was it for you? It is my number two. Oh, okay, here's number two. It is my number two. My number three.
Starting point is 01:01:00 So it's not my number three or number one. Again, it's one of those things, like we said a couple weeks ago, you realize, I mean, first of all, we read the books and we were both big fans of the books. It's a completely different thing than the Chronicles of Narnia. The Chronicles of Narnia was probably
Starting point is 01:01:23 my all-time favorite series because of when I was reading it, the age I was reading it, but it's for kids. Yeah. It's a completely different thing than the Chronicles of Narnia. The Chronicles of Narnia were probably my all time favorite series because of when I was reading it, the age I was reading it, but it's for kids. Yeah. It's a kid's book. Whereas you pretty much have to be a teenager or older to really, I think, get into the Lord of the Rings. I didn't read the books until the movie started coming out, but I read each book before the movie came out. Only time I've ever done that.
Starting point is 01:01:47 Well, Game of Thrones, I read all of the books before I watched any of that. And it only helped, especially because they were so reverent of the books when they made the movies. And now, as I've already recommended, the extended versions. Yeah, well, it's the perfect, from a literary standpoint, it is the perfect fantasy series. It's been emulated, but it's never been superseded, I don't think. And then, like you said, the fidelity that the movie, the way that they translated the books into the movie,
Starting point is 01:02:25 the way that they translated the books into the films, the level of detail, the level of attention, it's just something that I don't think, it had never happened before and it hasn't happened since. No one's ever adapted something with that much care. The way that you can watch a superhero movie and I understand how someone might feel like, you know what, it's just a little ridiculous.
Starting point is 01:02:55 It's a bit too much for me, I just can't get into it. I think you could say that about Lord of the Rings if it wasn't Lord of the Rings, but the fact that it was, it is what it is, it has such a deep well of backstory and history and language and everything. It's easy to just immerse yourself in that world and to, because you can't be,
Starting point is 01:03:27 it's really hard to be critical of it because it's done so well. Whereas if it's not, you can just roll your eyes in that genre. Well, that's what happened with Narnia, you know? Right. Okay, so my number three, I've been on record, you shouldn't be surprised, I've been on record saying this is the best movie
Starting point is 01:03:46 of all time and it sounds like I'm saying it as a joke. I can't believe it made number three. My number three movie of all time, released in 2003, with no apologies from me, is Elf. Elf is my third favorite movie of all time. You know, I didn't see it in the theater. It's sad that so many of my movies on my list, I didn't see in the theater, but we watched it.
Starting point is 01:04:15 Of course we watch it every year at Christmas. And every year at Christmas, I'm like, I forget how good this movie is. One of these years, I'm going to expect it to be as good as it actually is. Every scene these years I'm gonna expect it to be as good as it actually is. Every scene, I mean, it taps into the nostalgia of those old stop motion Christmas movies
Starting point is 01:04:35 that we'd watch, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. Frosty the Snowman. It pays perfect homage to those. It's Will Ferrell in this like super sweet mode that's just really winsome. Every scene, it's like, oh yeah, this is a really good scene and this is a really good scene.
Starting point is 01:04:58 And it's, the scenes build the movie. In some way, it's kind of like, I know that's like a weird or maybe obvious thing to say, but what I'm trying to get at is it's not just what, everything that happens, you feel like, this is my favorite part of the movie. And then the next thing that happens, oh no, this is my favorite part of the movie.
Starting point is 01:05:21 And you go through, there's only a few places where that's not really the movie. And you go through, there's only a few places where that's not really the case. Like every scene has something that in that moment that you're watching, it makes you think it's the best. It's like listening to the Hall & Oates greatest hits album when you're like, oh, this is their best song. And then the next one comes on. That's my experience in watching Elf.
Starting point is 01:05:43 Well, okay. And then there's all the memories of watching it with my family every year and everybody's still loving it. Nobody rolling their eyes. Okay, it's a great movie. And when we do top 10 favorite Christmas movies of all time, it'll be my number one.
Starting point is 01:06:01 Hey, you don't have to say anything. You don't have to say anything. No, no, I mean, I think it's funny. It's a funny movie, but it's funnier that it's your number three favorite movie of all time. Jon Favreau wanted to, he was exploring making a sequel, but Will Ferrell didn't seem too into it. It's come up a few times over the decades,
Starting point is 01:06:19 but it ain't gonna happen. I don't think it should happen. I don't want it to happen. Okay, well, I've already told you my number, well I've already told you my number two. I've already told you my number two, which is Lord of the Rings. Oh, so we're going to number one. So now we are both.
Starting point is 01:06:33 Yeah, we know what our number one is, right? This was the thing that there was no question. I knew what I was gonna put as my number one. That wasn't the difficult part. The difficult part was filling the list out, but we'll say it on the count of three and we'll say it at different times because of the delay between our two video chats,
Starting point is 01:06:53 but three, two, one. Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction. There it is, released in 1994. Quentin Tarantino's follow up to Reservoir Dogs. When I watched this movie, I went to, it's interesting, we didn't watch this movie together. It was really gaining momentum. It had been out for a while.
Starting point is 01:07:19 And I went to the Rialto Theater, which is like in Raleigh at like five points where that like- That's where I saw it at the Rialto Theater, which is like in Raleigh at like Five Points, where that like- That's where I saw it at the Rialto for the first time. But did I see it because you took me back to it? I think so. I know I didn't watch it the first time with you. I think I watched it with Missy, my girlfriend at the time.
Starting point is 01:07:38 Because that was 19, it might have been 95 by the time we saw it, because it took a while to get going. And we were, I was, we were definitely dating at the time. But the funny thing is I don't remember who I saw it with. I remember the theater, I remember the theater had a stage and it had these two big speakers just exposed and sitting out there below the screen. And it was a small theater
Starting point is 01:08:03 and you would just walk down the sides and then go into the middle, really old rickety squeaky seats. And right, it just felt, it was the first time I had seen a movie at the Rialto or any like art house theater. And I felt so out of place, yet so cool being there.
Starting point is 01:08:26 You know, I was being in high school and it was just like, there were these hipster college kids and like these old guys wearing sweater, you know, cardigans, like professor types, and they were drinking beer in their seats. Well, it was, and then the movie started. And it started in such a different way than in a movie I'd seen.
Starting point is 01:08:48 It had this opening title credit sequence. I'm like, what is this? Yeah, well, he did, I remember the feeling of, after I watched that movie, and this has happened a few times, where you just gotta just sit there for a while. You can't get up. Well, it was confusing,
Starting point is 01:09:11 because it was circular narrative, it was presented out of order, and so like. Well, he was doing things that we had never been exposed to. First of all, we hadn't really seen anything that violent. You know? In your face, like, I mean, the type of violence. Gratuitous, gratuitous, violence to the point,
Starting point is 01:09:35 and again, this is, Tarantino is controversial. There's gonna be people who are mad at us because we put this as the number one, but listen, this isn't, we're not trying to please anybody with this list. We're just telling you what our favorite movies are. And I know Tarantino is a controversial figure, but the impact that that movie had on me
Starting point is 01:09:52 and the fact that it, he made extreme violence funny. And I don't know, I know that that's problematic and I find that problematic and I wouldn't know, I know that that's problematic and I find that problematic and I wouldn't personally create it. But even the scene where they shoot Marvin
Starting point is 01:10:15 and it's actually the most horrific thing that you can imagine, but yet incredibly funny at the same time. Tarantino had this way of tapping into this sort of dark part of every person who wants to laugh at violence because they don't know how to compute it. The thing that was funny was, it was in those characters' worlds,
Starting point is 01:10:39 it was just another day at the office. So it was the most honest way for those characters to react to that accident. And it was funny. Like, I mean, the dialogue. The dialogue is, it's unlike anything. We had never experienced that, like the Royale with Cheese conversation that they have
Starting point is 01:11:00 in the car in the first half of the movie. I remember us talking about that and thinking like, no one's ever, no one's ever, we had never been exposed to anybody who would have this completely tertiary conversation. We would have weird conversations. For extended. It felt like there was a resonance in the fact that
Starting point is 01:11:20 time was dedicated to two characters having this strange conversation. That's not moving anything along. And it really, except that it, because they were walking up and they were armed, it's, you know, depending on what, you know, they were going to do something, all this tension was built because it's like,
Starting point is 01:11:42 what, what's happening? I find this extremely funny, but it's also, I'm really tightening up inside. And I was aware of the filmmaking process more so than I ever had been, maybe completely for the first time that like a director's voice could move me. And so that was extremely inspiring to make a connection between decisions
Starting point is 01:12:15 that a director had made and the experience that I was having. Yeah, well, and another part of that that I think you'll agree with is when we made movies, you know, like when we made Gutless Wonders or whatever, and some of the stuff that we would start filming and writing at the same time growing up, we didn't think about film scores as scoring, right? We didn't think about people making music that is intended to accompany. In our minds, the way that we thought about film scores was soundtracks. We thought about songs that were cool,
Starting point is 01:12:54 that had a vibe that you put into a certain part of the movie, and that's what Tarantino did in that movie. That soundtrack introduced me to genres of music. I mean, that soundtrack introduced me to Al Green. Yeah. And from then on, it was like, oh, I'm an Al Green fan, you know?
Starting point is 01:13:14 And every single song was so carefully chosen. And I think that that resonated with us because the way that we think about music and the way we think about music being matched to something on screen. And he continues to be a master at that. But that was something we, even though it had been done, it hadn't been done in nearly the same way.
Starting point is 01:13:35 And the fact that, I mean, basically, if you're reading about cinema and you're reading about this movie, you're gonna read about Pulp Fiction being a cultural watershed, whether you like it or not. So I think it was so special to both of us in Became My Number One because we experienced, personally, firsthand, in that moment,
Starting point is 01:14:01 the cultural watershed, not just for film, but it impacted so much more. And to be at the age where that watershed could happen through, it could run through our body, just course through our veins as we watch this thing. I didn't know that I was the one that brought you to watch the movie again, but I can definitely believe that to be the case because I, having experienced it, I knew that you had to experience it.
Starting point is 01:14:36 And I'm glad that we both went back there. I just don't think it was running anywhere else anyway, or maybe it was just the coolest place to see it. Because it was still, it was, you know, it had 250, 265 F words, which set the record by a long shot. I'm sure Lebowski beat that four years later. Well, but the highest,
Starting point is 01:14:58 Tarantino's highest number of F words is 269. Do you know what that was? Inglourious bastards? No, it was reservoir dogs. So he actually used to use the F word more than he does now. But it was one of those things that interestingly, even though, you know,
Starting point is 01:15:20 me and you come from a conservative Christian background and we were definitely like very serious Christians at the time. We never really, we didn't have a, there's a big aversion to cursing and violence and that kind of thing. And, you know, the whole like Tipper Gore put parental advisory, there's a big aversion to a lot of that at that time, especially in the nineties. But we never were really a part of that. We always kind of gravitated towards those things that seemed a little bit
Starting point is 01:15:54 subversive, maybe because our personal lives were not, there was nothing subversive about any of the things that we were actually doing. So maybe it was somewhat of an outlet for us or whatever. But I think that that is one of the reasons that it was controversial at the time. It's like, you can't do that. You can't say, why would you use the F word 265 times in a movie?
Starting point is 01:16:20 And you know what? It is excessive. But it's almost like that's why he did it because it was excessive. That's why there's scenes in there that are like, why did you have to put that in there? And it's like, exactly. Because he was like, I'm gonna do this almost
Starting point is 01:16:41 as a way to sort of shock you into welcoming my style of filmmaking, for better or worse. Well, there's more controversial choices than that, which I don't wanna get into, but. Oh yeah. Yeah, I think it was a time and a place and being a part of that experience puts it at number one. And you know what, I hate to go back to Elf.
Starting point is 01:17:06 I gotta go back to Elf if I may, because I left out one thing that I found. You know the burp where he drinks the whole two liter of Coke and then he does the longest burp ever and he's like, did you hear that? So funny, right? Great movie. It was a real burp.
Starting point is 01:17:25 And it was from a voiceover artist named Maurice Lamarche, who was the voice for one of my favorite animated characters who made my TV movie list in that episode. He was the voice of the brain in Pinky and the Brain in Animaniacs. He did the bur in Animaniacs. Oh, wow. He did the burp for elf. Well, you know, one additional piece of trivia about elf is there was one word
Starting point is 01:17:55 that was also used 265 times in that movie. It was the elf word. Oh, gosh. Okay, so there you have it. That's each of our top tens. I couldn't resist. Couldn't resist. Not as much overlap as I thought might could happen.
Starting point is 01:18:09 And you know what's up. Hold on, so you had, obviously we had the same number one and then we both had the Big Lebowski, both had Fellowship of the Ring. Yeah. And was that it? I think that's it. My honorable mentions were Toy Story 2, Her,
Starting point is 01:18:29 the Peanut Butter Falcon, Forrest Gump, and the other ones that I already mentioned. Yeah, let me quickly run through mine. Those are good ones that you just mentioned. Groundhog Day, Rushmore, Dead Poets Society, The Usual Suspects, The Matrix, Fargo, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Apocalypse Now, Forrest Gump, Raiders of the Lost Ark,
Starting point is 01:18:51 2001 A Space Odyssey, The Shawshank Redemption, Cabin in the Woods, Cabin in the Woods, which I'm gonna be talking about on another YouTube channel, Toy Story, and then Napoleon Dynamite. You're going on whose channel? I'm going on Dead Meat James. Okay. I don't know when that's coming out,
Starting point is 01:19:09 but you talk about your favorite horror movie, and Get Out was too obvious of a choice, so I'm talking about Cabin in the Woods. Yeah, that's a good one. All right, there you have it, our honorable mentions, as well as our top 10s. I'm not gonna give another rec, because this whole episode is a rec.
Starting point is 01:19:25 Pick some of those to watch with your loved ones and maybe we jogged your memory to go back. Hashtag Ear Biscuits, let us know. Just don't watch Pulp Fiction with your family. Yeah. Unless your family is all adults. Right. Even then it'll get awkward.
Starting point is 01:19:40 Hashtag Ear Biscuits, let us know. You can put your top 10. Just tweet it at us, we'd love to see that. Yeah, yeah, tweet your top 10. We'll tell you if you're right or wrong. And we'll speak at you next week.

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